OH, SHOOT! 



tion of our launch; so away we plodded, over 

 crater lakes half hidden and choked with 

 fifty feet of snow, skidding down crusted 

 slopes, lowering ourselves hand over hand 

 down gutters where the snow water drenched 

 us from above. In time we left the deeper 

 snows for thick brush, broken by open patches, 

 and a ten-o'clock twilight was on us when we 

 spied a fresh track. The moss had slipped 

 and torn beneath the animal's weight, and the 

 sharp slashes of the claws had not yet filled 

 with seepage. 



"He's close by," said Joe, shifting the 

 camera. "Gee! I wish I'd brought my gun 

 instead of this thrashing machine," and for 

 the first time I realized that I had a new, 

 small-calibered rifle with me, and had selected 

 this day to try it, not expecting to have to 

 rely upon it. 



At a half run we followed down the trail, 

 for there was no difficulty in picking it up 

 wherever it crossed an open spot; but, without 

 warning, the hillside ahead of us dropped off 

 abruptly and we emerged upon the crest of a 

 three-hundred-foot declivity choked with devil 

 clubs and underbrush, the tops of the spruce 

 showing beneath us. Joe altered his course 



52 



